The Megyn Kelly Show - Janice Dean on the Fall of Andrew Cuomo, and The Importance of Making Your Own Sunshine | Ep. 71

Episode Date: March 3, 2021

Megyn Kelly is joined by Janice Dean, Fox News meteorologist and author of the new book "Make Your Own Sunshine," to talk about the demise of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Dean's role in driving the story from the beginning, the latest allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against him, the way the media covered him last year (including his brother on CNN), the latest on where things stand with the nursing home scandal, the heroism of Ron Kim, the importance of making your own sunshine, and more.Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:Twitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShowFind out more information at:https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow

Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations. Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show. Today we have a treat for you, Janice Dean, back by popular demand. Everybody loved her last episode with us, and boy do we have some updates for you. As you probably know, she's a Fox News meteorologist. And she is the author of a new book called Make Your Own Sunshine, an attitude with which I wholeheartedly agree. But Janice has also been following the Cuomo saga, as you know. She's the one responsible for staying on Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, and his malfeasance when it comes to the COVID crisis

here, and in particular, his order last spring to send thousands of COVID positive patients into the New York State nursing homes, which was just a foolhardy decision at best. He was warned not to do it. He did it anyway. And now we learn from our state attorney general that he's been covering it up. That is the allegation that he's been covering up the numbers to make himself look better. The number of people who died in the nursing homes and and then died in the hospitals when they were transferred from the nursing homes. It's all coming out. And not only that, but the sort of two of the one to punch has been now at least two women coming forward and accusing him of me too type behavior so the

situation is getting worse for him by the day and i'm going to ask janice about it we're going to walk you through what exactly has happened what is likely to happen and the media hypocrisy on this that the dereliction of duty that people at cnn and elsewhere are guilty of and covering this story so we'll get into all of that plus i've got the inside scoop for you on our trip to Kalahari Water Resort in the Poconos. You don't want to miss that. That's coming up right after this. Is he going down? Is Andrew Cuomo, is he going down in one way, shape or form, whether it's an impeachment, he'll be forced to resign. Is he going down? Okay. That is a good question. I think this is the beginning of the end of him. I really do. I feel like there's going to be more women, especially the fact that there's been multiple

memos from Cuomo over the weekend. So the first one was kind of like, I didn't do it. Misunderstanding. And then the next memo that dropped was he was basically admitting to, you know, doing some of this behavior, but under the disguise of I was only joking. I'm so playful. It was right. It's like, oh, I'm such a kidder. I love to kid the ladies by kissing them on the lips of my office. Oh, seriously, that's what he decided to go for. I'll just read the audience. Just we'll get them up to speed before I read his defensive statement.

But so now the governor's been accused by at least as of the time we're talking two women of sexual harassment this is of course on the heels of his much more you know significant sin which is he his behavior led to the death of 15 000 people um that's what janet's been jumping up and down about for a year but this is also serious and and it has governed a lot of um news coverage and so there's one woman named lindsey boylan and the second woman now is named Charlotte Bennett. And Lindsay is accusing him of bullying her, of asking her to straight to play strip poker, of rubbing her legs, her lower back, her arms. And then ultimately, um, and then they had an aid tell her that she was like the hotter sister to somebody he dated. And then he, he, according to her, kissed her on the lips in his office here in New York. Oh, okay. So that's one. Then Charlotte comes forward, Charlotte Bennett comes forward and backs her up to, to some extent saying he was inappropriate with her too. Um, a lot of sexual innuendo. What else did Charlotte say? So yeah, Charlotte basically was saying that he was asking if she would have sex with an older man.

And I believe he also asked her to get a tattoo on her butt at some point. So this is all very uncomfortable. What is that? Like a tramp stamp? What is that? But you know what, Megan? Here's the thing. It's not about sex. It's about power. And so while I was, I was a bit surprised because I just thought the guy was

it was a bad dude. I didn't think he would go into crossover that territory of sexual harasser. But then when I think about my career and what you and I have gone through, it's about power. So of course he is doing that to young women because it's about making them feel uncomfortable. That's what really riles him up, right? Is making people feel bad and being the most important guy in the room. Asserting his dominance. Exactly. So this is his statement now in the latest attempt in response to the women. At work, sometimes I think I'm being playful and make jokes that I think are funny. I do on occasion tease people in what I think is a good-natured way. I do it in public and in private. You've seen me do it at

briefings hundreds of times. I have teased people about their personal lives, their relationships, about getting married or not getting married. I mean no offense and only attempt to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business. I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended. I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that. That is the shittiest attempt at cleanup I think I've ever read. I mean, it's terrible, right? Like, oh, I think I'd be my playful moments when I kiss my employees on the lips. He does deny that, but that's what the

allegation is. I should say he goes on to say, to be clear, quoting now, I never inappropriately touched anybody and I never propositioned anybody and I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable. But these are allegations that New Yorkers deserve answers to. And on that, he's right. We do deserve answers. And he does deserve due process, you know, just because I'm openly biased against this guy. I own my bias on this particular story. And it's for all the reasons we've been discussing our closeness and so on. But he deserves due process like anybody else. And so this process will play out and we'll get we'll get a determination. But my point is the way like this statement, so playful was not the way to go. Right. But the fact that he has actually written something like this is quite extraordinary. I saw a clip of Maggie

Haberman on CNN, believe it or not. And she said that she's basically covered this governor for on and off for 20 years. And the fact that he even went down the road of somewhat of an apology is huge. He does not apologize. And as I have learned in the last 10 months of covering him, he likes to blame everyone else except himself. So the fact that he is issuing something like this makes me think that a, he's in real trouble because there was also reporting that his aide, Charlotte, was moved. She actually went to a superior and told them about this behavior, and she was moved to a different position, Megan. So they knew about it. And I think that there's a trail. There's a paper trail. There's probably people who are corroborating her story. And now if there's an investigation and not one organized by him, uh, but by the, the, the AG,

uh, Tish James, who also thank goodness, uh, has been on our side with the nursing home issue. Um, there's going to be subpoenas and there's going to be people telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So what, and this is so reminiscent of what happened at Fox, right? When Roger tried to get the investigation controlled by him, he would decide who got interviewed. I mean, what the hell world does that lead to an honest result in, right? So he's trying to, you know, seize control of the investigation, like, oh, we'll investigate, but I'll, you know, I'll make sure it's handled right. No, no, sir. You don't get to investigate yourself. Um, but what, what makes you think that there will be other women, just history, the language, the language, when you read that,

I just feel, if you look over that statement again, there's a lot of plurals. Hmm. And I just feel like you and I both know when there's smoke, there's fire. It's true. And now that we've had two, like you just have one that can happen like the one and then that's it. This is like already we've had two and everybody lives in fear of this guy. I mean, truly, whatever you think of Cuomo, you cannot deny this guy is a bully. People on both sides of the aisle, reporters up and down, have testified to that. He is a bully. So imagine yourself like this

Charlotte Bennett, young, just starting out in New York politics. They don't want to speak up against him. They're afraid. So now that two have done it, it does seem more than likely, if there are others, they're going to come out. And I've heard from sources that there are others and that they have been afraid. But hopefully, sometimes when one person stands up, a second person stands up, and then there are more brave people that come to tell their truth. It's so crazy to think that after everything that's happened, this might bring him down. Well, I'm not surprised, though. It was my husband, actually, yesterday when we were sitting in the car who said, Al Capone, they got him on tax evasion, right?

Instead of the real stuff. And I've heard from other people who I will not identify who are pretty much in the know that they're already talking about this being his downfall so that they don't have to go down the road of the more criminal stuff like the nursing homes. This one would be sort of an easy out. It's so it's so helpful to the Democratic politicians who don't like him, but don't want to back him, but don't want to be sucked into some corruption investigation that might dirty them up. Absolutely. And and from what we know, you know, going down the road of the nursing home issue, which I know we'll get into, it looks dirtier and dirtier and more corrupt every day, Megan. get to the bottom of this. This is terrible. Believe all women. So I just think that this

is a really easy path to go down. No woman should ever be put through something like this. Let's just make that clear. It's awful. He's disgusting. However, this would be much easier for these Democratic lawmakers to get behind than an actual story of corruption. Right. That they don't want to touch with a 10 foot pole list to reflect on them. And just to identify corruption, we're not necessarily talking. I don't know. We'll find out. We're not necessarily just talking about like bribery or, you know, it's it's all wrapped up in the nursing home scandal. Why he did what he did. More is coming out on that, which we're going to get into.

So the nursing home scandal, one would think would have been lethal to this guy as a politician long ago. But first we had the media stonewalling. The Democrats wouldn't turn on him. And now both of those things are starting to turn. And it's seeming like it was even worse and more nefarious than we first began. So let me just back up. So now things are getting, they're crescendoing against him on the nursing home scandal. Just, just to reiterate, I think our audience knows at this point, but this is a hundred percent Janice Dean's doing. It is a hundred percent

you're doing. No one would be talking about any of this if it hadn't been for you, my friend from Floral Park, Long Island. And so now that they've been dragged to the story, kicking and screaming, the messaging has been kind of like, oh, it's breaking news. You know, Cuomo, he issued this order. Thousands of people died. And the news that really had the media treating this like it's a brand new story. Oh, my gosh, is the AG in New York came out with a report that he totally undercounted the deaths. They hid the true number of people who died in these nursing homes as a result of his order that these nursing homes had to accept COVID positive patients into them and that they

weren't even allowed to test the patients to find out whether they had the COVID positive patients. And then they were putting them next to the other patients in the nursing homes where it was very predictable what would happen. So the press is like, oh my gosh, I guess it's a story because now they can't cover it. And here was Janice Dean, people, just like last week at a rally trying to, you know, talk about this as she's been doing regularly. And I just want you to listen to this. And a lot of news agencies, news companies think that this is breaking news. We have been shouting from the rooftops for 10 months, 10 months. And I have yet to hear this governor say in front of a microphone, I am sorry for your loss. The governor has blamed everyone, everyone except the man that signed the mandate.

Everyone except the man that has been covering up the numbers. He's blamed God, he's blamed Mother Nature, he's blamed Fox News, he's blamed the New York Post, he's blamed the nursing home workers. Those that went in there and tried to care for my loved ones who we could not go in, or have wakes or funerals, or have rights or hold their hands. We did not see them. The only time my husband was allowed to go see his mom was when she was dead through a glass window. What is that that is not humanity?

Oh, such a powerful moment. and your indignation at his blaming the nurses who were in there trying to save the lives he endangered, J.D.? Yeah, that was his investigation into himself. There's so many layers of this story and so much blame, and he just will not take any accountability. And how dare anyone who says that it was his March 25th order, even Howard Zucker, just a couple of days ago last week,

Howard Zucker is the health commissioner and he's the one that helped with writing this, I call it a death warrant, March 25th. When he was asked, don't you think that that March 25th, when he was asked, don't you think that that March 25th order to put infected patients into nursing homes for 46 days, don't you think that might have had an impact on the most vulnerable? He actually said, no, no, I know it. No, it did not. I mean, just disgusting lies and cover-up to this day. And that's why I've always been saying independent, bipartisan investigation with subpoena power. It's the only way we're going to get answers. And yes, the media has been complicit in this cover-up, the cover-up of the cover up of the cover up, except for the New York Post, which did amazing reporting throughout this whole last year, almost. Fox News obviously helped me cover it.

There have been some Albany reporters that have bought on this story. But for the most part, they did not touch it. And instead, CNN, I mean, the Cuomo Brothers Hour, when I came out to talk about this story, it was a day after the infamous Cuomo Brothers Comedy Hour with that giant cotton swab. I was furious. My grief turned to anger. And that's when I decided it was time to speak out. very good reason, was not allowed to interview his brother, the governor of New York on CNN prior to any of this, because he has a conflict of interest. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that one. They bent the rules during Cuomo, you know, because it was an extraordinary circumstance.

And these interviews at the time, nevermind now, proved why the rule made sense in the first place, why a legitimate news organization would not allow this to happen. Because major things were happening at that time. And there was good reason even then to ask about these subjects. He didn't. And now he looks like a fool. Here's a little highlight reel. My brother, thank you for coming back to the show. Mom told me I had to. Dad tried to have a curfew for me. I never got past the resentment.

But I do believe you'll see more tightening if the numbers don't slow. Your problem is with the curfew. It's the least of your problems. Just so you know. I never find you violated the curfew all the time. Caused much pain. But that's a different story. No matter how hard you're working, there's always time to call mom.

She wants to hear from you. Just so you know. Yeah. I called mom. I called mom just before I came on this show. By the way, she said I was her favorite. She never said that. Good news is, she said you were her second favorite.

Is it true that when you were having the test administered, you inhaled and the doctor's finger went all the way up your nose and got stuck and had to be released with a tool? Is that true? Just to deal with the record. She wanted to comment that I have a little button nose. This was the actual swab that was being used to fit up that double barrel shotgun that you have mounted on the front of your pretty face.

That swab is like a piece of lint going in that thing in your face. How could it have collected anything? It was like throwing a rock around a cave. That is so not right. Was it this? Or was it this? Tell people the truth. Come on.

Love goes. That is not right. Come on. Which was it? This is not love. Oh, no. But it was love. That's exactly what it was.

Because at the time, J.D., that last thing with the swab, the giant swab that Chris Cuomo was holding, that was May of 2020. It was already known and a story that he had issued the order sending sick patients into those nursing homes. And there was a tweet at the time by Nicholas Fondacaro reading, instead of asking his brother, the New York governor, why he decided to pack COVID patients into nursing homes, killing untold amounts of people. Chris Cuomo pulled out oversized prop cotton swabs to mock how big his brother's nose was. This is the state of journalism on CNN. Pathetic. And then Anna Navarro, who's now on The View and a CNN contributor, writes, look, she says, for months, CNN has carried almost 24-7 sobering COVID news. A few minutes of friendly bantering between two brothers with high profile,

high stress jobs is not supposed to be journalism. It's called humor. It is a coping mechanism for some of us. Simple. If it offends you, don't watch. Yeah. I went after her with that tweet as well. And then she came back at me with, who are you? I have no idea who you are. Now she knows. Well, I mean, it's just, it's so gross. And then very recently they had Ron Kim on the view, which I was very grateful to see. He was the lawmaker who has been very brave, a Democratic lawmaker, assemblyman from Queens, New York, who lost an uncle in a nursing home and has been very vocal. I've known him for months now. He was the only Democratic lawmaker that came in on the Zoom call when I had a makeshift hearing with Republican lawmakers after they decided they were too uncomfortable with having me at the actual original hearing about nursing homes. So all the Dems boycotted you except for him?

Yes. Ron Kim is the good guys, right? And he was on The View last week, I believe, where Ana Navarro got to ask him a question, but she prefaced it with, well, I live in Florida, so I don't know the nuances of this story. And I mean, just... And so I found that tweet and I retweeted it and said, well, this aged well.

Well, even in that moment, you had responded to her saying one one of these guys faked his own quarantine. Hi, Chris Cuomo. The other guy let recovering covid patients back into nursing homes, which ultimately, I believe, killed one or both of my in-laws. If this clown show happened on Fox, you'd be raging. Sit down, please. Boom. That's exactly right. How dare she? And then when she's got Ron Kim, who not only had a relative killed by the same order we believe, but has had the nerve to speak out about it and now is being bullied daily by Cuomo to walk it back, to walk back some of the things he's been reporting. She pleads ignorance. I'm from Florida. Well, then shut up. Why did you comment on it to begin with? Right. And isn't it her job to know what's happening with Ron Kim to be on a news program like The View? If you're going to interview Ron Kim for a whole segment on your program,

don't you think you need to do some research? It was pathetic. I guarantee you she did. She didn't like the results for Cuomo, and so she decided to opt into the dumb routine. I had no idea. I mean, that's what they're all doing, right? Like, Nicole Wallace had him on, like, a couple of weeks ago. Didn't ask him anything. Nothing about this stuff, right? Like, they're all, a lot of these folks on MSNBC and other networks are still trying to cover for him. Right. And Nicole Wallace actually, just a couple of weeks ago, had the governor on.

And he gave the infamous quote of, inept government kills people. I think that's what he said. Oh, we have that too. We have that too. Stand by. We were ambushed like no other state, Nicole. And again, it was from federal incompetence. They thought the virus was in China. It had left China, had gone to Europe, and it came here for three months before they ever knew. Incompetent government kills people. Incompetent government kills people. More people died than needed to die in COVID. That's the truth. And she never followed up. It was, you're a journalist. I actually went after her on social media as well and said, are you kidding me? That was a gift. If you were a journalist, you would have said to him, wow,

that's an interesting quote, considering we've had over 15,000 elderly die and you had an order to put COVID positive patients in their nursing homes for 46 days. What do you say to that, Mr. Governor? But she didn't. It's amazing. She left that on the floor. I mean, just as a moment of like self-promotion, it would have been a clip that would have gone viral.

You'd think she'd do it. Nevermind her journalistic sensibility in which I do not believe. But it reminded me of a moment where I had Dick Cheney on my show years ago. Barack Obama was president and Dick Cheney had written an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal the morning he was set to come on the Kelly file saying he was blaming Barack Obama for the Iraq war. I was like, okay, this is Dick Cheney blaming Barack Obama for the, for the Iraq war, right? Which basically

he started. And I was like, well, now I'm going to have to club him like a harp seal because he said something insane. And instead of being a friendly interview about his new initiative he was pushing with his daughter, it's going to get ugly because he said something absolutely ridiculous. And of course, the clip went everywhere, whatever. That was her moment. He said something absolutely ridiculous, totally unselfaware. Incompetent government kills people.

Yes. Right you are, governor. Right you are. How did it happen in your case? Exactly. It was just, she shouldn't even have a show after that. You know, it was- And what about Chris Cuomo?

What about Chris Cuomo now? CNN hasn't said anything, J.D. All they've said, because now others are onto that story, and saying, all right, is there going to be an apology? Is CNN embarrassed? Do you want to apologize to your viewers

for leaving so much journalism on the floor? And their only response is, we've resumed policy that he's no longer allowed to interview his brother. I think his brother actually needs to take a leave of absence. In all seriousness, I do. This is a really Chris. Well, I mean, I think the other guy needs to resign, which I think will happen. But the other guy who was on CNN, who for months, while body bags were being piled up in storage trucks outside of nursing homes. He'd have his brother on

talking and joking about COVID. I mean, yeah, I actually think CNN needs to put him on leave for a while. Yeah, he shouldn't because the night that Lindsay Boylan came out, he didn't touch this story. Of course not. CNN didn't touch it. He didn't touch it. NBC, CBS, and ABC ignored it. Totally ignored it. Well, they can't now.

I mean, they can't now. It's easier now for them to cover it because it's a sexual harassment story, right? It's not the 15,000 seniors that died. It's much easier for them to cover this story. But even Chris Cuomo should probably have a news person at the bottom of the hour to do the headlines so that at least he can sort of pretend that he's covering the story. Well, that's a good point because CNN is still protecting that Chris Cuomo is that news person. They pretend that he's a newsman, that Don Lemon's a newsman. I mean, I'll tell you like on the Fox primetime, if news broke during the O'Reilly hour, they would pop up a reporter. You would see Trace Gallagher pop up and do a live report. They knew not to mislead

the audience like that. No one was trying to pretend O'Reilly was a straight news guy or Hannity. And yet these guys are out there pretending to be straight news journalists and ignoring one of the biggest stories in the country. And now the other shoe has dropped and they've ignored that too. And what's Chris Cuomo gonna do? Is he gonna report on Lindsey Boylan

if his brother's forced to step down? How are they gonna handle that? Huge conflict of interest. There's no way around it. I really think either they put headline news at the bottom of his hour that he doesn't touch, or he has to take a bit of a vacation. It's really not good for the Cuomo family right now. Well, it's a good point because how can Chris Cuomo fairly cover Ron DeSantis, right, in Florida or Governor Abbott in Texas or any other governors if he's barred from covering the New York state governor as it relates to COVID? Well, he's been tweeting too. He puts out these tone deaf tweets about, well, the Ted Cruz thing. Obviously, Ted Cruz going to Mexico when Texas is in dire straits with the ice storm and the snow and the no power. So Ted Cruz takes his family and he goes to Mexico. Dumb idea. Absolutely. There's no question. because no lawmaker or someone of importance,

a senator, no less, in Texas should be leaving the state that is in peril. But Chris Cuomo, Chris Cuomo going on and talking about Ted Cruz and talking about what a, oh my goodness, what a silly decision for a governor to make. That's just open season for us to go after him.

Right. Maybe take a seat on that one, Chris. Absolutely. He's in an impossible position. He's placed himself there with the help of his network. You're right. He should be benched and he shouldn't be allowed to talk about another governor in this country. I mean, all these lawmakers put him in a compromised position when he wants to talk about incompetence, cover ups and COVID. Yeah, it's just I think it's a really bad look for them right now. And hopefully, you know, they're in meetings trying to figure it out. I guarantee you that they're not that would suggest they care. They don't care. They're like, what happens? You know, what happens, Megan, when this governor is I mean, seriously, they're thinking of impeaching him or I mean guarantee they're going to be like local story. Or we mentioned it in a passing news read on Wolf Show, right? It's like, yeah, but zero, zero time devoted to this in the prime time of CNN. Can you imagine at that point,

if we do the matchup between their coverage of that versus what they did of Cruz? We already took a look at this a couple of weeks ago. And of course, it was dreadful for them. I mean, it just shows their unfairness. We're going to get back to Janice Dean in one second and we're going to talk about Ron Kim. Now, this Democratic lawmaker has been jumping up and down right next to J.D., trying to make the same points. And good gracious, is this guy bold. He came out, he got threatened, he says, by Governor Cuomo directly. He was on the local Fox here, Fox 5. And the anchor said, show me your phone, show me your call records. He liked to prove that the governor had called him the night before. And he did. He pulled up his phone, he shoved it into the camera. There was Governor Cuomo. Not that we doubted him, but he sort of said that they'd been calling him a lot and trying to threaten him. And there the evidence was. And Ron Kim went full bore on what this governor did to him, how he threatened him and made him in fear of his

life, of his life. So that's coming up. The last time you were here, you'd been jumping up and down saying he issued this order. It killed thousands of people. Six thousand people at least were put into the nursing homes. 6,000 people were killed or so in their nursing homes. And he issued this order, even though he was warned, he was warned by medical boards. This is a fucking terrible idea. They were saying, you're going to kill people. The facilities are too small.

They're overcrowded. This is New York city. We don't have sprawling space. People are going to die. And he did it anyway. So it's not like he, I don't say this was a good faith mistake because this was at best a grossly negligent mistake because he was warned. And even as a lay person, you can see that this was completely knuckleheaded.

You were jumping up and down saying people need to pay attention to the story. And you said, I think the number is much bigger than 6,000. I think it's much bigger because he's not counting. He's undercounting that number. And he's not counting the number of people who were sent from the nursing homes once they fell ill and died in the hospitals. You're a hundred percent right. So we're going to get to how that came out. But I want to ask you one question. A lot of our listeners asked me and our reviews after you left last time, why didn't he send the COVID positive elderly to that ship? You know, the ship Trump sent and it was sitting there in the Hudson. Yeah. Okay. So why didn't he send them there or to one of the hotels? Why did he send them

into the nursing homes? Excellent question. And one that we still don't have an answer to. I have my theories, but you are correct in saying we had the comfort ship and we had the Javits Center and we had other makeshift hospitals. There was also tents set up in Central Park. There were all sorts of places for overflow to go into because, you know, that was the excuse is he wanted to make sure that hospital beds were, there were enough of them to take COVID patients in or all of the patients that were going to be coming into the hospitals. So they needed places to put them. And Trump gave them those facilities that went, I believe, 80% unused. And there is an excellent question into why didn't he use them? Theories of the fact that there was no money exchange. There are articles coming out now about the fact that COVID patients got double the amount

for nursing homes to take them in. So there's a money trail. The fact that Cuomo gave blanket immunity, I think two days after he put the March 25th order in place. Why did he give blanket immunity to nursing homes? Huh? Interesting. Was it because the military were in charge of the comfort ship and the Javits Center. So all of these questions are ones I want answers to. And I think that- Did New York State make more money in some way if the patients didn't leave the nursing homes? They made money if the nursing homes took in COVID patients, made more, double. I think Ron Kim was the one. Ron Kim is actually, is a hero. He's doing investigative journalism right now, more so than any of the journalism outlets out there, more so than the news departments. He's

actually breaking news every single day on the nursing homes. Uh, let's talk about that. So he, so two weeks ago before we went to Kalahari, which we'll get to, um, the, the, the water slide park, um, with our families, it wasn't just the two of us. That would have been a little weird, but awesome. Okay. I would definitely go. I saw you on that slide, girl. I know we have to talk about that. We heard from Ron Kemp. He's the reason we found out about the numbers actually being much higher than... We knew it, but they hadn't admitted it. And tell us about the conference call he had with Melissa DeRosa and who she is. Right.

Melissa DeRosa is Cuomo's top aide. She and another guy, Rich Azapardi, both bullies, by the way. I've been bullied by Rich Azapardi. He's the one who is like, she's not an authority on anything but the weather. That's right. He's, I mean, if you look at his social media, he, he's really brutal. He, he called my sister-in-law, he told her to get a life, uh, grieving sister-in-law and the, you know, there's a, an advocacy group called, um,

voices for seniors that I've become close with. He calls them and people advocating for their elderly relatives who died a death cult. OK, so these are the types of people. Yeah, that Cuomo surrounds himself with. These are the people, his aides. So Melissa DeRosa basically went into a meeting, a closed door meeting with Democrats a couple of weeks ago, and we knew it was happening. And there was, you know, some scuttlebutt on, you know, in the Albany press as to why they were having a Democratic meeting with lawmakers closed door to talk about nursing homes. Why weren't there Republicans there? So it was a two-hour meeting. I believe it was

conducted over Zoom. And Melissa DeRosa basically apologized to the Democrats, not to the families, of course, but apologized to the Democrats for sort of not giving them more information on what was happening in nursing homes. The nursing home issue was getting a lot of heat on, you know, in the news. And she basically said, listen, you know, we haven't really filled you guys in yet because there was that DOJ investigation into the nursing homes by Trump. And he was naming other governors. It was Newsom, Murphy, Wolf from Pennsylvania, and Whitmer. He was saying, you know, we're killing all of these seniors. So, you know, we had to sort of get our ducks in a row before we could give you any information. But she basically told the Democratic lawmakers that they were covering up the fact

that there were more numbers that they weren't producing. Ron Kim, I don't know who the leaker was, but hats off to the leaker. Ron Kim was eventually the person that stood up when Cuomo called him on the weekend. Before we get to that, before we get to the call. So this woman, according to the reports, Melissa DeRosa said to these Dems, we we didn't turn over the information to the feds because we were worried about getting prosecuted. We were worried about getting prosecuted. Now, she hasn't said anything since it came out. She said this, that the governor's office is is claiming, oh, no, that that's not exactly they don't have that right. That's not right. But there's there's a report that there's a transcript of what she said and that, you know, now she's not gonna be able to wiggle out of it. And she hasn't come out and said otherwise. So if that's true, then this could seriously be

obstruction of justice. If the, if the justice department is saying to New York state, give us the numbers, how many people died in nursing homes, how many people died in the hospitals, what are the real numbers? And you're stonewalling, as Melissa DeRosa reportedly said, because you don't want to go to jail. Yeah, you got a whole new host of trouble on your hands. Absolutely. And I had spoken with a senior official with the DOJ in December, who told me that as of October, they had not gotten any information from Cuomo or the administration. So if that's true from a senior department official, then they were not producing information when asked by the Department of Justice. Wouldn't that be a crime?

Yes, 100% it would. There was a great op ed in The Wall Street Journal on February 21st by a former acting. It was it was this guy, John Daukas. I don't know how you pronounce it. D-A-U-K-A-S. He served as principal deputy and acting U.S. assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. And he said this was this may not have just been negligent, but it looks like it was intentional and perhaps criminal and says it's a crime to proved that the Cuomo administration knowingly provided false information to justice, New York's willful failure to provide information may itself constitute a criminal offense, particularly if the intent was to thwart a federal investigation, which after all is exactly what Mr. Rosa reportedly said the administration did. Isn't it convenient now that we're focused on sexual harassment with this governor, right? Because it's getting all of these people off the hook right now.

I understand that- And so the circle's tightening around him. Right. Absolutely. DeRosa, I believe, has lawyered up. But it's all very like, there's tentacles all around because now that the federal government is investigating and the FBI, in addition to the DOJ investigation that's been happening for months, Melissa DeRosa's mother-in-law is a judge in the Southern district of New York, which is where something like this would have been brought to. And her father is one of the biggest hospital lobbyists in New York state.

So they are all connected. By the way, she's the one, this Melissa DeRosa, who Lindsay Boylan, this is one of his accusers who said he kissed her on the mouth. Lindsey Boylan wrote, and I quote, it was also normalized, particularly by Melissa DeRosa and other top women around him, that only now do I realize how insidious his abuse was. So this woman's name is on a lot. I mean, she's on his inner circle of protectors from the sound of it. So JD, so that breaks. And that was a big, big story that they, they had understated the numbers as you'd been suggesting all along by a lot, by a lot, right? It was first they had said it was 6,000. Then when, um, when they knew that this report was coming out, that the AG report was coming out because the attorney general had looked into it and said, it's much higher. Then they were like, oh, okay, we're ready to raise the numbers. We were just, just about to do it. They raised it, I think, to 9,000. And now we know from AP reporting, it's up to 15,000 people they're saying were killed directly or indirectly as a result of this governor's order. So now we're up to 15,000 people. And so the night this broke and

Ron Kim backed it up, what happened in this meeting with DeRosa, the governor called Ron Kim personally and went off on him. And Ron Kim, to his credit, the guy's got, you know what? Yep. He goes on TV the next day and goes public with the Cuomo phone call. And here's a bit of Ron Kim telling us what happened. I spoke out and told the truth. And the governor asked me when he called the next day at 8 p.m. for 10 minutes, berating me and yelling at me in front of my wife, in front of my kids while I was about to bathe my kids to a point my wife was shaking and I had to walk away from her for a couple minutes because she can still hear how what the yelling was on the phone

asking me that asking me to write a statement not tomorrow tonight um to clarify telling me like are you a lawyer uh you didn't hear it right you don't have you know you're not a lawyer so how could you have understood what melissa said um this is what she said you will issue this statement tonight you will go back tonight and do it that night my wife um didn't sleep um she was upset she was shaking um and um upset at me for a couple of hours, you know, and blaming me. Like, what did you do to us? She was scared not just for my political career, but for my life. I mean, that's the impact that what it means for the most powerful, one of the most powerful politicians in the country to call you and threaten your your livelihood because you're doing your job. Think about that. Scared for his life.

This governor made him afraid for his life. I mean, anybody who doesn't think this guy is a dangerous bully who silences all of his critics, you are warned early on. Watch your back. Watch your back by a friend who knows him well. And now other stories, J.D., are coming out. There's this woman, Lindsay Boylan, she tweeted out saying, when I accused him of sexual harassment, he had same names here. Rich as a party. That's the guy who said you're not an authority in anything but the weather. Call around and bad mouth me.

He had loyalists try to intimidate me and anyone who has ever or does work for me. There is one mode with Cuomo and it is fear. I'm done with being afraid. And it looks like others are too. And then on February 22nd, there was an op-ed in the New York Post by a former Post reporter, Morgan Fehm, P-E-H-M-E, saying, got a call in April of 2014 while she was doing reporting on the governor from Melissa DeRosa. It wasn't the governor himself, but she knew, she says, it bore the full weight of his power. And DeRosa vowed, quote, to destroy Morgan, to destroy her career and to take revenge on the New York Post. She said, I remember how vividly how I felt scared. I had no reason to think that these were idle threats.

And this is this is a pattern. It's a pattern. And he's been getting away with it because. Giant swabs and humor and a Democratic press corps that's not interested in hurting him and too many Democrats running cover for him. Listen, that happens on both sides. Tribalism where you run cover for the person doing shitty things up top. That's why Ron Kim is such a hero. Totally. A hero. And I've spoken to Albany lawmakers who tell me that they don't think even this is going to destroy him. They call him the Terminator. But I think the Terminator, wasn't there like Sarah Connor?

Didn't she destroy him in the end? I don't know. He came back. There were many many sequels I can't remember how it went down there were um but he yeah people are really afraid of this guy I mean and and like you said there are many stories of midnight phone calls from either the governor or rich as a party or DeRosa screaming into the phone, screaming. How do they get away with something like that? I was thinking about this the other night. In companies, you have an HR department, right? What happens with Cuomo? What if you're this 25-year-old aide that this is the biggest job you've gotten out of out of college and you're being harassed by the governor. Where do you go? Is there H.R. in like government?

What's a good point, because if what this Charlotte Bennett is saying is true, she went to her supervisor, a woman named or somebody above her, a woman named Jill DeRosier and was just transferred. You know, it's like bury the problem. It wasn't, as far as I know, it wasn't like, let's go deal with the governor. Cause this is not okay behavior. It was like, Oh, well, Charlotte's got to go. And you can hear it. Like, this is, of course, this comes from the top, Melissa and this other guy, they take their marching orders and the tone is set from the top. And and this other guy, they take their marching orders and the tone is set from the top. And you mentioned it earlier, how callous he is, even in talking about the people

who were killed. You know, he was like with a shoulder shrug, like people died, which I think we also have. Here it is. Look, whether a person died in a hospital or died in a nursing home, it's the people died. People died. My father was in a nursing home, got transferred to a hospital. My father died. People died. By the way, the same people are dying today. But who cares?

33, 28, died in a hospital, died in a nursing home. They died. My father died. I wish I had someone to blame. It would make me feel better, maybe. Like that's what you're doing. You're just trying to make me feel better maybe. Like that's what you're doing. You're just trying to make yourself feel better. Well, I think he's trying to be empathetic,

something that he does not know. I think actually he is missing that empathy gene. He just can't do it. But I think he thought by talking about his father's death, people would feel sorry for him. And instead, it just made me even more furious because his dad died with people around him. And he died, I believe, of natural causes or I don't know, I'm sorry, what he died of. But my point is, his father didn't die in a nursing home because there were infected patients that were ordered to be there. And he had people

around him that loved him where my husband could not see his mother or his father at all. He saw his mother through glass. No, sorry. He got a call saying, you can come see your mom dead through a glass window. And he didn't do that. Yeah. So you know what, Governor Cuomo, I'm sorry, I can't. And the whole thing of whether they died in the hospital or they died in the nursing home, well, that is a big deal because that is the number that went from 8,000 to 15,000 and you've been covering up the number. Megan, it's like this. If there is a car crash on the highway and someone, God forbid, dies, but they don't die on the highway, they die either on the way to the hospital or in the hospital. Does that mean that death is not a highway car crash? It's a hospital death. Really? That's what he's saying.

And do we believe it was just because he wanted to make it look like that order didn't result in that many people dying or as many as we now know? Absolutely. Because he went on interviews, made me furious. And he had the percentages. Like he would always say, Oh, well, New York is 45th in percentages compared to the other states, those who died in the nursing home. Well, he was using bad numbers for months so that, you know, it was like, well, other states lost more people in nursing homes than we did because New York was the only state that didn't count those that died in the hospital but got COVID in their nursing homes.

So yes, huge cover up. And that's what you said. Tish James came out with her 76 page review. She conducted her own investigation. I believe it completely caught them off guard because so many people wanted to have those numbers. There were many foil requests from reporters trying to get those numbers, but she did. She went in and attorney general has power. Yes. The journalists do not. And a Democrat. So she, yep. And she got the numbers. And that's when, you know, it started, the dam started

breaking. You know, I asked this the last time, but I think it's worth repeating. To those people who say, you know, it was a difficult time. How could he know? Maybe he was just looking for a place to put these people where they could be safe. You know, they couldn't reject them from the nursing homes. They were sick. You know, did the best he could. We're all dealing with a new pandemic.

What say you? If he had said in the very beginning, when we were just finding out about the March 25th order that we did not know about, if he had said, I made mistakes, I wasn't listening to science. Instead, he was, by the way, listening to hospital lobbyists. I wasn't listening to science. I needed to make sure that there were hospital beds available for sick patients in the hospitals. I am sorry. I will spend the rest of my career trying to write this so that never happens again. And maybe if he had written condolence cards or sat with families instead of writing, I'm sorry, you know, I'm trying not to square and I'm trying not to get upset. Come on in the water's fine. Writing a note. Cause my, my, my son is in Catholic school.

I can't do it. Uh, you know, your godson is in Catholic school. I can't do it. Oh, my godson. Your godson is in Catholic school, and I cannot take the Lord's name in vain. I'm setting a bad example. It's okay. If he had not written a book during the middle of a pandemic, or tried to sell a COVID mountain poster, or won an an Emmy award and instead called up some families, I think we would have accepted his apology. That's a great point. He now has been asked, would you like to apologize? Would you, you know, would you like to say something to the families? And this is what he said about apologizing. Is there anything that you personally apologize for in this whole process?

Apologize? Look, I have said repeatedly, we made a mistake in creating the void. We made a mistake in creating the void. When we didn't provide information, it allowed press, people, cynics, politicians to fill the void. See, the narrative got away from me and went to a false place of me being the bad guy because I didn't fill the void. And he doesn't mean I didn't give the numbers over. He means I didn't push back against these crazed lunatics who think that my order had anything to do with anybody's death. The void. What about the void in my family? What about the void that my husband doesn't have his parents anymore? That every day on his way home from work, when he used to call

his mom, he still has that urge to call his mom. How about that void, governor? He went on to dismiss you, all the other families, people asking these questions as conspiracy theorists. That you're conspiracy theorists. He's so far away from an apology. And this is the same guy who out of the other side of his mouth lectures us on how leaders take responsibility. He's going to hold himself accountable. That's what a leader does. But what he's holding himself accountable for is allowing the void to sit. So conspiracy theorists like you can jump in and accuse him of bad behavior. Right. It just never ends. I mean, and, you know, I do think that this is the beginning of the end for him. And I hope and pray, Megan, that they don't lose sight of the nursing home issue, that this needs to be investigated.

It needs to be fairly investigated because there is so much corruption. I believe it's criminal. I believe people died because of his reckless order. And not only him too, there's a bigger story. He wasn't the only governor that had this executive order. There were others. There was Whitmer. There was Murphy in New Jersey. There was Governor Wolf in Pennsylvania and Newsom in California, all Democrats. And I think there needs to be an investigation on the origin of that order. Why was there a March 25th order? Where did it come from? Because we know it didn't happen because of science. We know that some of his health officials have quit, nine of them, that's fairly recent. And were the orders in those other states that I mentioned identical to what Cuomo's was?

Because that would be another big story. Well, that's interesting because one of the things he had said in defending himself was I have been in touch with the best experts in dealing with this. You know, I'm sort of surrounded by a team of amazing people. And then Margaret Hoover interviewed the doctor he mentioned, the specific doctor, I think he was from Hopkins, and said, is that true? He says, you're like the main conciliary, Michael Osterholm. And he's like, not at all. It's like, governor, who? He said, I spoke one time with one team member of his for like five minutes on the phone.

Meanwhile, Cuomo's calling him like a principal advisor. Right. Yeah. He lies. Yeah. There were nine health officials that quit and we still don't know why so that's another reason to have an independent investigation why did these you know these scientists that he was apparently getting information from why did they quit wow is anyone is there an active investigation right now into any of that i know like tish james looked this, but then, I mean, in all fairness, they say, I love that she did it. Don't get me wrong. But some people say, well, she's a Democrat who wants his job.

That's why she looked into it. And then she didn't pursue it. She just sort of dumped a bunch of dirt on him and then was like, OK, peace out. My work here is done. It doesn't seem like her investigation is ongoing right now. But I don't know. Do you think it is? And is there another one going? There is. There is another one, another investigation happening. And it was opened, to my knowledge, because of Melissa DeRosa's confession in that

Democratic meeting, in that Democratic lawmaker meeting. Apparently, after that, a federal investigation began. And again, it was supposed to be conducted in the Southern district of New York, but because of DeRosa's connection with the mother-in-law being a judge in the Southern district, it is now the, I believe Eastern district, which would be Brooklyn.

And there's also an FBI investigation. So that is ongoing. And I pray, I pray that, you know, it's the side of the law and it's not, um, you know, looking, I pray that they're doing it for the right reasons, you know, that, that the, the, the lawyers that are looking into that are doing it for justice, for the families are, is there other, like, What are the possible ways that Cuomo could go down at this point? Well, I've thought about a class action lawsuit,

because even though I don't know that there would probably be no monetary value, I'm not looking for monetary value, by the way. I can't put a price on my husband's family. But maybe that would open the discovery process, right? Maybe if there was a class action lawsuit, there would be, you know, let's find the origins of that March 25th order. Why wasn't the comfort ship used? Was there money being exchanged for the infected patients into the nursing homes? Because I really want answers, Megan. I think we deserve that. And if there is corruption, we need to look under the floorboards.

I mean, it needs to be, we need to do this for future families because it, you know, if it's an exchange between nursing homes, Medicare, Medicaid, and the government and hospitals, I mean, that's, you know, that's, that's huge. It's like, that's awful. Yeah. Well, so Ron Kim wants him impeached. Ron Kim wants him to have his emergency covid powers taken away. Five, I think Republican senators have asked for an investigation into him from the feds. Is that he's getting investigated by the FBI. So, I mean, I don't know, like is impeachment likely? Does it, is there any, do we feel like the Democrats are at all behind that or is his, is this going to take him voluntarily resigning? I think he's going to have to, I think it's better for them if he resigns, don't you? Then going through an impeachment process. And I also, you know what?

A lot of these lawmakers are so wishy-washy. I mean, I'm so angry at our New York state lawmakers. There are some good guys out there like Ron Kim, but there are also people that like, there's one guy that apparently, I don't know the whole story. What's his name? Skoufis. He apparently hid in the bathroom because they were having a vote on whether or not to raise the governor's salary. And he didn't want to vote. So he ran into the bathroom. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Apparently that's, that's, yeah, that's your lawmakers. These are elected representatives, right? Yeah, exactly. These are people we've sent there to represent us, that's your lawmakers. These are our elected representatives, right? Yeah, exactly. These are people we've sent there to represent us. It's so gross. It really is. It's very discouraging. In our next segment, we're going to get into whether J.D. is going to run for governor.

Should she run for governor? And has she been approached by anyone trying to get her to run for governor or trying to dissuade her? Hmm. We'll see. More with J.D. next. Cuomo, like Trump, he doesn't have an adult relationship with the truth. And I actually this is a funny bit, but I did think it was kind of telling, just a little telling and somewhat entertaining when you sent this to me. John Oliver went after him, finally, the other day. And he did a great bit, which is well worth Googling if you guys haven't seen it. There was one part where he was talking about Cuomo's repeated mention of someone named

A.J. Parkinson. Listen. And you may have noticed that he was quoting someone there named AJ Parkinson. And that is something that he likes to do a lot. Remember, textbooks say politicians lead and the people follow. No, it is often the people who lead and the politicians who follow. AJ Parkinson. AJ Parkinson, great quote. I respect elected officials who aren't typical politicians. Don't pass the buck without passing the bucks. A.J. Parkinson. A.J. Parkinson. A.J. Parkinson. A.J. Parkinson.

A.J. Parkinson. A.J. Parkinson said that. Now if you're currently thinking, oh no, am I supposed to know who A.J. Parkinson is? Don't worry. He's not a famous historical figure that you learned about in school, like Plato or Jane Austen. It's actually completely fine not to be familiar with A.J. Parkinson because he doesn't exist. He's a completely made-up person, apparently by Cuomo's dad,

former governor and Kevin Spacey cosplayer, Mario Cuomo. Now, he used to invoke the name of A.J. Parkinson as a kind of inside joke with the press. And while that may have been charming at the time, the current Cuomo doing it during a pandemic, when virtually no one gets that it's a joke, is a pretty weird move. And look, circulating fake quotes. It's obviously not the worst thing Cuomo's done. That is becoming increasingly clear.

But it does feel like a pretty apt metaphor for an administration that has aggressively managed facts to fit its chosen reality. And it actually brings to mind another insightful saying. Andrew Cuomo is a colossal arsehole. It's from an excellent writer named T.J. Pimpernickel. And I'll tell you exactly two things about T.J. Pimpernickel. One, he's a person I totally made up. And two, he's also completely right about Andrew Cuomo. Oh my gosh, that's so amazing. The next person is going to be AJ Parkinson. This just in says Cuomo is innocent. Cuomo didn't do a thing.

Why doesn't the press call him out on that? I want to see somebody confront him. Well, listen, I'm really glad that it took him a long time, right? But they're there. But better late than never. No, better late than never. Not only have most people not been interested in covering this story, but you've taken a bit of guff for being as vocal as you have.

You know, the infamous one was that awful person, Soledad O'Brien, saying, meteorologist weighs in. And then all of us just piled on her like, F you. The meteorologist happened to have lost two of her in-laws, both of her in-laws, to this guy's order. So you can just take a seat. And her response was, Lordy, all these Karens adding me, go yell at your neighbor, lady, such a kind, sensitive person. Then there was that rich as a party who we mentioned last I checked, Janice Dean is not a credible source on anything

except maybe the weather. Then there's Ben Stiller who got on you. Like you wrote a book about spreading sunshine. You don't like the governor. I do. Don't be divisive. Bye. I mean, there's got to be some measure of like satisfaction for you now that everything you said was proven true. Well, I think they need to get a little bit more creative in their put downs. Like the weather thing is just so not original anymore. You know, it's true. It's fine. I mean, social media can be a really dark place, obviously, but it can be a really awesome place as well. You know, I, I have some of the most amazing followers that will defend me, you know, if

they see a Soledad O'brien or even a ben stiller it didn't take long for ben stiller to do a quick google search on my family's history and then to his credit he actually did apologize and deleted his tweet that's more than most people do more than soledad or um anna navarro did oh no If you criticize Soledad, you're a Karen, even if you, Janice, the underlying, you know, opinion maker, is 100% correct in what you said.

But, I mean, just for the record, this woman, Soledad O'Brien, was just asked to testify at a congressional hearing about the state of journalism today. This woman. And she said that, you know, we're suffering from a truth decay. Now, this is the same woman, may I just point out out who tweeted out her support of actor Jussie Smollett, right? Who tweeted out she thought Trump had colluded with the Russians even after it was disproven. Who tweeted out that she tweeted against the Covington Catholic kids. She was out saying, like, what kind of a morning show would book the Covington teens? Did they ask for forgiveness?

That they didn't do anything wrong, you dumbass. They didn't do anything wrong. That she tweeted in support of Jacob Blake. She called me a Karen and a racist. This is the person they called before Congress to inform them about the state of journalism, Janice. Yeah, and she's a very angry person, too. I mean, I just I can't even look at her social media. It's just it's depressing. Listen, I, I just, uh, I can't even look at her social media. It's just,

it's depressing. Listen, I will say this. I look forward to the day that I don't have to be this person calling people out on social media and going back to celebrating national cheeseburger day on Fox and friends, you know, that I feel is more of my wheelhouse. It's not to say that I'm not informed when it comes to political matters. And if I have something I'm really passionate about, I will certainly be an advocate for that. But this political storm that I'm sort of involved in is quite uncomfortable for me. Well, get used to it because you're running for governor. You have got to do it. We have to talk about this.

Come on. There is a movement to draft Janice Dean. From you. To run. You're the movement. It's a movement. That's a point.

You're the movement. There is one. All right, well, wait. So you say, let me ask you this. Has anyone not named Megyn Kelly and in a position of authority in New York state asked you to run? There have been people who have asked me sort of, but asked, asked me if I'm, if I ever thought about doing something like that. So a roundabout way. Does that mean like, is this somebody who would back

you or is this somebody who would run against you? I can't give that information out, but look, no, I, this point in time that is not happening. And you tell me, I mean, okay, if this governor goes down, right, if he resigns or he won't get impeached, I don't think that would kind of I just would want to highlight the fact that this governor had put in place a deadly order for 46 days to put covid positive patients into nursing homes. You know, I feel like someone who is an advocate should maybe run against this guy to point out the things that he has gotten wrong and how he's a terrible governor. But if he resigns, then, you know, I feel like I'm hopeful there might be someone better than he that will come into power. So, you know, for me, it was always, if I was even thinking about something like that, it would be the reason to shed a light because sunlight, we all know is the best disinfectant to shed a light on the policy that I believed, believe helped, you know, helped kill my in-laws, or at least I think. I don't have any proof in front of me,

but that it is undeniable that putting over 9,000 infected patients into nursing homes where our most vulnerable live would have an impact on their lives. Of course. So, but let me just ask. So I don't actually, I don't think you should rule it out. Just, just only if he goes down because all this corruption that's in the

government, we think is still going to be there. Somebody has got to go in and clean it up. Somebody like you. So somebody who's not a politician, someone who's like a citizen, a concerned citizen, a mom, a professional, a smart woman. It's so fun. Like you're unassailable. Like people try to attack you and they're like, ah, shit, there's nothing. I can't land anything.

She's like the most sympathetic, kind, well-liked character. It's super fun on Twitter watching them realize that. So I just buy it like it would it would i am totally on this issue i've been open about my bias on this and toward him you know against him um but i do think jd if we can't get people like you good people you don't have to no one goes to like i majored in how to be a new York state governor, you know, like life, life experience brings these things to you. And this whole thing has been so eye opening. So I don't know, you're not ruling it out completely, if you had told me a year ago, a year ago, oh, the New York Post is going to do a story about how maybe you should run for governor, I would have been like, are you having too many of that tequila? Are you having too many shots of tequila? You know, it's very strange to be in this, put in this position, even being asked the question. But like you said, somebody like a Ron Kim, for example, who's had something happen

to his family. He is passionate about finding the truth. I like him as a human being. I don't know a whole lot about his policies, but he's a good man. That's somebody I think who, you know, would be a viable, strong candidate. Even someone who has been affected by the coronavirus, like a restaurant manager or worker or someone who owns a small business. You know, those people are the ones that have skin in the game and want to see change. And I think that makes an effective leader. What about Lieutenant Governor? I didn't know who Lieutenant Governor was until very recently. I couldn't even know what her name is, but obviously she is somebody that might take that role if Cuomo resigns. I'm not sure what a

Lieutenant Governor does. Nothing. I don not sure what a lieutenant governor does. Nothing. I don't think they do anything either, but it would be fun to have you in that role. Now, you mentioned that, you know, sunlight is the best disinfectant, which is a good transition to sunshine and making your own because you've got a book out. And by the way, we are getting to Kalahari, but you have a book out now, a new book, and that's the title, Make Your Own Sunshine. And what's what is the book about? I started writing this book. Well, you know what, if I go right back to the origin of it, it's the Dean's List. The Dean's List has been on Fox News Radio now for many years. And it actually started out on my friend Jane Skinner's show,

Jane Skinner and John Scott. It was happening now. You were around during the time. And Jane Skinner wanted to do like a good news story, a kicker, we call it in the news business, at the end of a newscast or to just break up the bad news that we all report on. And we started doing it. It didn't last very long, but she was the one that came up with the Dean's List. And so it started on television. It didn't last very long. But then Fox News Radio

came to me many years ago and said, we need some content for Fox News Radio in between commercials, between shows, that kind of thing. Something that's about a minute long. Do you have any ideas for us? I'm a radio gal. I started out in radio. And I just thought, oh, the Dean's List, a minute long good news story that I did on Fox News Radio. And I still do it five days a week. And when my editor, Eric Nelson from HarperCollins came to me after Mostly Sunny, which was the memoir that came out two years ago, he said, do you have another book? You know, what do you think? And I told him about the Dean's List. I said, you know, I only get a minute to talk about these good news stories, but I know that there's

way more to dig into when it comes to some of these amazing people that I'm featuring. And I, you know, why don't I send you a couple of stories and, and, and I'll flesh them out. I'll, I'll make a phone call. I'll, I'll talk to them. I'll find out what the backstory is and why they did the wonderful thing that they did and see if that's something that, you know, that you might like as a, as a book. And so I did, I, I, I sent him a couple of Dean's lists that I did more research on. And I talked to the people that were featured in the story and he said, great. It sounds like a chicken soup for the soul type of book. Remember that book a few years ago, gosh, it must be 10 or 15 years ago.

Yeah. And it was a huge years ago? Gosh, it must be 10 or 15 years ago. Yeah. And it was a huge success. And it was. Yeah. And so I started writing it before the pandemic. And then the pandemic happened. And I was writing most of it during the pandemic. And I was calling these people, I was having zoom calls, and I was doing phone calls. And I'll tell you, it got me through the darkest moments of the pandemic. It was a book I feel that was meant to be written not only for people to read about these wonderful individuals, but for my own sanity, for my own self-care. Um, I, you know, these people were strangers that I was talking to, but I just got so much out of our conversations and, you know, I would go for daily walks with either Theodore or Matthew, uh, my kids. And I would, Matthew would ask me every day, who would you interview today for your book? And I would tell him the story of, of Garth Callahan,

uh, the, the, um, the napkin notes, dad who started writing napkin notes when his daughter, Emma was just a little girl and he would put them in her, her lunch bag. And then he kept doing it for many years. And then he was diagnosed with cancer and he realized he wanted her to still have napkin notes until she was, you know, out of the house and off to college. So he spent many days and long hours writing out napkin notes, because he thought he was going to die. And, you know, it's just, he's still around, he's still here, and he's doing well. And I talked to Garth and I talked to Emma and what that means to them, just a small little note in your lunch bag. So, you know, these are the types of stories that really it makes you realize we're all connected. We all, you know,

just a little moment like that can change your whole day. And that's what this book means to me. It's a book about kindness and shedding light on these wonderful people that really, you know, they are the epitome of humanity. I know it's going to be a bestseller, just like the first one was. New York Times, bestselling book, bestselling author. This one will be as well. And I, you know, I think this is appropriate because that's sort of who you are. You really are a look on the bright side. And it's not like we don't have our moments of drama or upset, but you are able to dig yourself out of a lot. You know, life's thrown a lot your way. And I get, I think it's probably this attitude that gets you over to the other side. Like there's gotta be a silver lining. There's gotta be something here that's going to make me feel

better. And even if it's not in this story, let me think about other stories that will make me bring more positivity into my life as opposed to negativity? The one thread in all of these stories is going through challenges. Every single story in this book will show you a challenge that this person or this event during their lives has happened. and they've come out on the other side of it and realized I am so grateful and I am going to show how grateful I am by doing something special for someone else. I, I go to the example of Ray Pfeiffer, a good friend of mine and my husband, a firefighter, Ray of light. He, um, God, I get emotional just thinking of him. He was larger than life. He'd walk into a room and you would stop what you were doing because he was just one of those

people that you gravitated towards. He dug for months at the pile after 9-11, trying to dig up remains for the families of his fellow firefighters, along with my husband, Sean. And he got cancer, 9-11 related cancer. And he spent the last year or so of his life sick with cancer, going down to D.C. to bang on Chuck Schumer's door and all of these lawmakers to ensure that his brethren, his family members in the FDNY were taken care of and their families were taken care of if they were diagnosed with 9-11 related cancer. And he got that bill passed, the Zadroga bill. Along with Jon Stewart, you know, it was a big story. Jon Stewart was a big advocate for Ray and this bill. But I write about him because he took this great challenge

and he brought sunshine and sunlight to all of these families, including mine. I know that if Sean gets cancer down the line that Ray took care of us. So those are the types of stories. There are a lot of them that are going to make you cry, but all of them are going to make you want to be a better person. That's the thing that people, they may not realize about you is it's, it's not just that Sean's parents were killed in the nursing homes. You know, they died in the nursing homes and he wasn't able to see them. It's that Sean, Sean's a firefighter. Sean has devoted his life to helping other people and he couldn't help his own parents through no fault of his own. And you guys live with the fear of that. I know. I know that.

You live with the fear of what all of his months at Ground Zero digging through all that toxicity and the remains of his fellow firefighters, virtually all of whom were killed from his unit on 9-11. Will that come back to haunt him physically as it has for far too many guys who are down there digging through the rubble there's no way of knowing you know that's one of those things you just have to live with you know like people who've got certain cancer genes you know you hope for the

best you can't always do something about it but i do think it's part of your story jd you know like you're protective of him and your family. And there's certain injustices you can do very little about. And there are certain you can fight. And when you can fight, you must. And it brings me full circle because, you know, we were talking about what if Cuomo goes down as a result of these Me Too allegations, right? And you were saying, of course, I'm totally in support of women's rights and holding abusive bosses to account, but

I don't understand why 15,000 dead seniors wouldn't have been a good enough reason, right? Like we were having this conversation. And I said to you, it's almost perfect in a way, JD, if he goes down because of this, because you had a major role in launching the Me Too movement, whether people know it or not. We talked about that the last time you came on. There would be no Me Too movement without you. There wouldn't. You know, we talked about like bombshell, right? They feature me a lot. I had a role. You had a huge role. You're the one who went door to door and got all the women to feel comfortable coming forward to Paul Weiss. And you and I both know we did not feel Gretchen Carlson would have won that lawsuit if the women hadn't come forward to back her. For sure, she fired the first bullet in this war, for sure. But she was

going to lose that case in all likelihood without the women of Fox News going in there. And you were critical. So six years ago, you helped launch this kind of bomb out into the atmosphere that was up there. And if the past 10, 11 months of you out there banging this drum saying, please pay attention to what he did, please understand he's not being honest about these numbers. I'm telling you, I know he's not being honest. And were criticized and diminished and bullied. And you kept talking. And the meteorologist kept talking.

And he was hobbled because of you. And now if the thing that pushes over the hobbled man is this Me Too bomb that was launched in the atmosphere in part by you six years ago, then so be it. You could say it's divine right order. I don't know what to say. I tell you, like, it's... I do, I feel like I'm on the verge of tears a lot like i do i want to protect him and i want to he god he loved his parents so much he really did he really did and he he's such a quiet guy and i would do anything for him. I really would. And that's what it's down to. I just

want to, I want to be able to speak up for those who don't have that microphone, you know, like that I had this platform, I was able to do it. I don't know what's going to happen. You know? Um, I just, it, it's, it's either right or wrong, right? It's black or white here. He did something wrong and he needs to be punished for it. He really does. He needs to be held to account. He does. And I would do it over again.

I would. And those are very kind words from you and you are completely biased. In a good way. But I've said to you as well, you started this. If it wasn't for you, these people, these wonderful ladies who are speaking up right now against this bully governor, they wouldn't have had the courage if it wasn't for you. So, you know, if you're giving me all these kudos for launching things in the atmosphere, you were holding my hand. Janice, I continue to marvel at you. People have no idea.

They just have no fucking clue. You're just so strong. It's like between your MS and your worries about Sean's health, legitimate worries, and you've had a lot in your family and the loss of both of your in-laws in the course of two weeks, taking on Roger Ailes, taking on the governor of New York all alone with Ron Kim, but basically by yourself and you're winning. You're winning. He's being held to account. What form the justice takes remains to be seen. But one thing's clear. You're a hero. You are the hero of this story. Heroine. And I love you, lady. I love you. I know. I love you, too.

So let's just get to Kalahari now, actually. OK, so this is a feature we have that we call real talk on the show. We just basically talk about something going on in the news or in my life or what have you that, you know, may be of interest to the viewers and the listeners. I always get it confused. And I want to talk about Kalahari, the kid Vegas that sits in the middle of the Poconos, Pennsylvania. And we've done it once before. We went to Camelback, I think the last time there are two of them. And we did this, this other one this time around for your boy's birthdays, which fall within basically three weeks of one another in January and February.

And our families went out to Kalahari a couple of weeks ago, two weeks ago. And it was amazing. And I just want to set it up and then bring you in. So I, I went first. JD was, we got a cabana, which was the lapse of luxury. I mean, it was like the cabana is a game changer people. Um, so JD was sitting in it and I ran out for the first round with the kids and our husbands were there too. They were doing the slides and they're amazing. It's such a great water slide place. Like whatever you're thinking, it's too little. They have more and more and more and more. And it was so fun. And of course, I started off like, I'm not doing any ones that are going to get my hair and makeup wet. I want to look good. I don't want to look like a drowned rat for the rest of the day. Flash forward to like

third slide. I'm like, woohoo, right? Totally submerged in the water. Um, so surrender to it and had so much fun. Then we go back to the cabana. And I, I said to Janice, you know what I was just thinking about? I said, sometimes I think about people with these big lives. I think about Oprah or let's say Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, right? They have these big lives, but you know what? Especially Oprah. I don't know about Meghan and Harry. I guess they're trying to be more normal. You know what they're never going to have? They're never going to have the joy of going down the slides with their kids in the E. coli ridden waters of the random water park. And I mean it. It's like, I can't think of another event in my life that makes me feel more joyful than that one. We do it at the summers too, at the place we go in

Jersey, there's a little water park. And something about being at the water park with my children, it might be my most joyful moment on earth. And I know it's disgusting. You can get planner's words and you get all skin conditions and there's definitely something in the water that's not good, but I don't care. Remember Doug, he said, I, I, I planted my face into, you know, going down one of these rides and I could taste chlorine and I could taste something else. Other bad things. Don't, and it's better not to ask. It's a don't ask, don't tell situation. By the way, we emerged without getting sick. Nothing bad happened.

Um, but I just want to talk to you about it because did you, did you enjoy it as much as I did? And do you agree? Like, it's like, it doesn't take, yes, we had the cabana, which was a luxury, but it wasn't that expensive. It's, it's the little things in life that bring true joy. That's exactly it. And I must preface this with my kids love your kids so much. They, they are cousins. I mean, not by blood, but by friendship and my boys every year around their birthday, you know, their biggest gift would be to spend time with your family. They consider that a birthday gift. And we had done it a couple of years ago with both families at Camelback in the Poconos. Poconos is basically known as Waterpark Central with these two big waterpark extravaganz uh, water park, uh, extravaganzas, but we decided on camp point out indoor. Yes. Indoor. Right. Um, but we decided on Kalahari this year and my kids were just so excited on the lead up. Um, and you're right. Uh, being there with your children. And I can't say that I am, you are much more adventurous than I

am. I have not been on a water slide probably since my teenage years and my kids know that, but let me just say this. They were so proud of me because aunt Megan convinced me, you went on the ride first, you, you test drove the water park ride and thought to yourself, okay, JD doesn't like getting the water in her face. She has MS. She can't be submerged in hot water for a long period of time. It's not good for her health. I'm just going to try this ride. And it's the elephant ride.

And you came out and you were like, JD, you can do this. I know you can. And, again, it's been at least 30 years since I've done a water park ride. And my kids have always at every time, mom, can you please do it with us? Mom, please, please. No, not this time, honey. I'm sorry. Maybe next time, but you got me on the ride. I went down, not going to lie. It was still terrifying, but my hair didn't get wet and it wasn't bad. And my little Theodore, the whole time afterwards, kept telling me how proud he was of me. And I have you to thank for getting me over that hump and making my own sunshine by conquering

my fears and going down the water park ride. And it was because of you. And so I thank you. My family thanks you, uh, yet to be, we're going to do it again. And there will be another water park ride in my future. Absolutely. And this episode was brought to you in part by Kalahari water. No, it wasn't. We got nothing. Well, now we need like our own cabana forever oh totally they should name one after us after this free promo and i'm gonna have to call them see if they would do want to sponsor the episode it was amazing and you you did and you know what

conquering fear could be a theme of the episode this one and the last one we all do that water park ride just do it do it and screw you op you, Oprah. I don't know why it's about Oprah. I don't know why, but it is. She probably has never been to Kalahari. Right. Well, that's the thing. So it's like Oprah has this huge ranch called the Promised Land, and she's probably got her own private plane, and she's got billions of dollars. But she doesn't have this life that would bring her to Kalahari. And you know what? It was all working class people in there. It was great.

You know, it was like, it's just like the heart of America. You know, sometimes, especially now in my life, I get brought to these fancy events, whatever it is, the Met Gala. This blows doors on the Met Gala. I would do this a thousand times over again to the Met Gala zero, ideally. This is true happiness in life. It's fun. You're with your kids, your family, your husband, your spouse, everyone is joyful with huge smiles on their faces. In our case, we had some margaritas. You had a terrible food, like greasy chicken fingers and pizza. It's like, you know, you give

yourself the day here and there where you can go for it. Then the next day with a huge arcade. And I love that too. I'm really just a nine-year-old boy at heart. So I don't know. It was next year, go-karts. I'm in. And we're making memories for our families

and that's what it's all about. And I love you. I can't imagine anybody else that I would rather ride the water park ride with. Same lady. Same. All right. So don't miss Friday's episode. We've got Larry Elder demolishing my dear friend Dave Rubin on the question of systemic racism in the United States? Oh, my God. It was a beating.

Dave would be laughing if he were sitting here next to me. He's aware. Dave was sort of the white liberal. At that point, Dave was still a liberal. He was working for the Young Turks for some time. And he was sort of challenging Larry, like there's systemic racism in the school system and the police system and blah, blah, blah. And Larry just took out his Edward Scissorhands and I mean, there was poor Dave with little tatters sitting across from him. So I think he's he's really well read, well researched.

So we're going to talk about this systemic racism thing and try to get some facts. Right. Is it true? People just throw it out there like it's a thing. And if you disagree with it, there's something wrong with you. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. You know, he's just released this movie called Uncle Tom, which is very thoughtful, very insightful, very respectful, and talks about what it's like to be a black person who doesn't sign on to some of these sort of liberal orthodoxies. And it's doing very well. So anyway, we're going to get into all of it. Looking forward to Larry Elder on Friday. Don't miss it. Go ahead and subscribe now so you can make sure you don't. Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

The Megyn Kelly Show is a Devil May Care media production in collaboration with Red Seat Ventures.